Sharpie Al

Charlotte Alice Overton-Hart, or just Sharpie Al.

Champion of ageing and the old, and the experience and wisdom of older people, inspired by my 92-year-old gran, Nancy.

People are my favourite vintage. Amazing greys.

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7 posts tagged biscuits

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This year one of my favourite parts of Christmas was all the baking. My mum put in her order for Christmas Day, and from the crack of noon on Christmas Eve I was baking up a storm in my postage stamp sized bakery of a flat. First tea, and later whiskey in the early hours, plus the right kind of Christmas music. The perfect start to festivities.

This year one of my favourite parts of Christmas was all the baking. My mum put in her order for Christmas Day, and from the crack of noon on Christmas Eve I was baking up a storm in my postage stamp sized bakery of a flat. First tea, and later whiskey in the early hours, plus the right kind of Christmas music. The perfect start to festivities.

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This week I’ve home baked custard creams, bourbons and jammy dodgers. Party rings and pink wafters are a whole other level of baked goods. But I like a challenge.

This week I’ve home baked custard creams, bourbons and jammy dodgers. Party rings and pink wafters are a whole other level of baked goods. But I like a challenge.

Source etsy.com

I thought I’d make a batch of water biscuits to have with a little cheese and soup (OK, OK, it was mostly because the cupboards were bare but I still wanted a bake break). Turns out this recipe doesn’t make water biscuits as we know them today. The results are much closer Fortt’s Bath Oliver biscuits. How I love the taxonomy of cheese crackers. 

Adaptations: I used butter instead of margarine, and five tablespoons of water instead of two. Decadent, I know.

Recipe from Good Housekeeping’s Cookery Book (1948).

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Peanut butter cookies are a winner if you like a slight crumble, and a sweet-but-not-too-sweet mid-afternoon snack. Ingredients: 10 oz plain flour, half teaspoon baking soda, half teaspoon salt, 4 oz unsalted butter, 8 oz golden caster sugar (seems like a lot, I know), 1 egg, half teaspoon vanilla extract, 8 oz smooth peanut butter (a regular jar will do). Method: cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (if I’m honest mine never became particularly fluffy, but it’s worth knowing what it’s meant to be like). Add the egg and vanilla and stir with enthusiasm. Add the peanut butter, then finally blend in all the dry ingredients. Once the mixture is dough-like, it can be cut into shapes. I opted for mini triangles, because I rather like a bite-size biscuit. Pop the cookies into the oven (pre heated to about 180C) for about 8 minutes. Best keep an eye on them, as they may need turning after about 6 minutes. Once out the oven and cooled, I sandwiched the triangles together with a little ganache. And why not?  (Recipe adapted from Field Guide to Cookies by Anita Chu). 

Peanut butter cookies are a winner if you like a slight crumble, and a sweet-but-not-too-sweet mid-afternoon snack.

Ingredients: 10 oz plain flour, half teaspoon baking soda, half teaspoon salt, 4 oz unsalted butter, 8 oz golden caster sugar (seems like a lot, I know), 1 egg, half teaspoon vanilla extract, 8 oz smooth peanut butter (a regular jar will do).

Method: cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (if I’m honest mine never became particularly fluffy, but it’s worth knowing what it’s meant to be like). Add the egg and vanilla and stir with enthusiasm. Add the peanut butter, then finally blend in all the dry ingredients. Once the mixture is dough-like, it can be cut into shapes. I opted for mini triangles, because I rather like a bite-size biscuit. Pop the cookies into the oven (pre heated to about 180C) for about 8 minutes. Best keep an eye on them, as they may need turning after about 6 minutes.

Once out the oven and cooled, I sandwiched the triangles together with a little ganache. And why not? 

(Recipe adapted from Field Guide to Cookies by Anita Chu). 

This week I made custard creams.  To my surprise, the finished article wouldn’t be out of place at the Ambassador’s Reception.  “Monsieur, with these custard creams you are spoiling us.” Homemade custard creams: a sign of good taste.

A note on quantities: I tend to make double batches, so I can keep some of the dough and buttercream in the fridge for baking emergencies. In this double batch I made both round custard creams and little stars with a petit fours cutter, about the size of a Ferrero Rocher. More or less.

Recipe from Good Housekeeping’s Cookery Book (1948). 

A certain biscuit manufacturer would have consumers believe that they’d have to go a long long way to find a better biscuit. But a batch of homemade garibaldi biscuits later tells me otherwise.. The kitchen cupboard is far far closer than the supermarket shelf.

Recipe from Good Housekeeping’s Picture Cookery (1951).


I found out today that shortbread requires no raising agent. On reflection, this makes good sense.

Ingredients: 6 oz plain flour, 2 oz caster sugar, 4 oz butter, a pinch of salt for good measure.

Method: cream the butter and sugar, add the salt and finally the flour, a little at a time. Believe it or not, that’s it. Roll out the mix and cut into any shape you like. Today I made little triangles and teardrops with petit fours cutters to make bite-sized shortbread. And why not? Pop into the oven set to 160C for about 15 minutes. The shortbread neither rises nor browns, so best not wait for either.

(Recipe from Princess Cookery Gift Book, Fleetway Publications Ltd., 1961. My mum used this age 9).

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